Pages

Friday, July 6, 2012

Modi vs Nitish

A regional player may now hold up one end of secularism debate. Can
Congress reclaim its space?
The Nitish Kumar versus Narendra Modi spectacle has been waxing and waning
for some time now. In its latest version it was sparked off by an interview
given by the Bihar chief minister in which he reiterated his aversion to the
Gujarat chief minister without taking his name, and made it clear that his
party would not brook Modi’s prime ministerial candidature in 2014. The public
sparring between the two NDA partners may have subsided again, but it leaves a
new suggestion in its wake: in the revived secularism debate, the two ends may
no longer be held up by the BJP and the Congress-Left combine. It looks like
the primary and spunky challenge to the BJP on secularism now comes from a regional
party, which, ironically, also happens to be a BJP ally. It is still a long way
to go to 2014, and Modi is caught up in Gujarat at least till the assembly
election at the end of this year. There are other obstacles to him being
declared the BJP-NDA’s PM candidate, not least of which is the robust
opposition to him within the Sangh Parivar. Yet, it must be marked that on the
ideological-political front, the first red flag against ‘Modi for PM’ has been
planted by Nitish, not by the Congress or the Left.
Nitish may have his reasons for making this manoeuvre at this moment. Yet,
those reasons may be incidental to the larger pattern that appears to be
firming up in India’s politics which is reconfirmed by the JD(U)’s apparent
overtaking of the Congress in the secularism argument. On most of the
consequential issues today, regional parties have inserted themselves into the
discussion, displacing the BJP in one and the Congress in another. If the JD(U)
has all but nudged out the Congress to become the anti-Modi in the secularism
debate, another regional party, the Trinamool Congress, was till recently
playing the role of the main opposition to the Congress on a host of other
issues from the Lokpal to federalism. On these, it is the BJP that found itself
relegated even though it is the leading party of the opposition in Parliament.
The growing assertion of the regional parties presents a challenge to the
Congress and the BJP — and an opportunity. How they deal with their apparent
relegation will determine the course politics will take in the run-up to 2014
and beyond.

Teesta Setalvad

Teesta Setalvad is an educationist, journalist and human rights activist who has been committed to an egalitarian and diverse India, at the forefront of the struggle for justice equality and non discrimination. She co edits Communalism Combat heads and directs Education for a Plural India programme and is Secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace. CJP is a Mumbai based trust committed to accountability, transparency and punishment to perpetrators of mass crimes within Indian democracy.